The Issue of "Class"

Hey everyone, so I've been checking out these boards for about a year now and never bothered to post, since given the overwhelming amount of people, my thoughts are already taken care of. This past weekend I was given the chance to attend the Rangers Home Opener as well as the game last night at "The Rock." While surfing between both forums (Devs and Rangers) there are alot of topics regarding fans and "class." But after coming home from the Prudential Center last night I feel compelled to share my thoughts.

The atmosphere at the Garden was phenomenal. It was everything you would expect from being at a Rangers game...a thunderous applause for the National Anthem, solid "Let's Go Rangers!" chants, and an explosion of the building when we scored. Just a real gritty hockey atmosphere.

Now, lets shift focus to "The Rock." I honestly have no idea where Devils fans can make there case about having "class." Multiple chants that were repeated through out all three periods last night revolved around "fellacio"("Rangers Suck...Lunqvist Swallows!") and "but-sex" (and both included Lundqvist.) Yeah real class. Thats good family fun right there.

On a side note...how do you call that place a hockey "ambiance." There are cheer-leaders, pom-poms, cowbells, horns, whistles, Lady Ga-Ga is playing between the stoppages...its like a damm circus, like an MTV sponsored event, its a joke. It is like one big commercialized gimmick in attempt to fill seats (which they will never do.) The place is like a morgue without Ranger fans, they need a "noise meter" to project on the Jumbotron in attempt to get a rise from the fans...sorry about the rant, I just felt the need to defend the Ranger fan base after reading alot of the garbage on here. Your thoughts?

The atmosphere for the Rangers home opener vs. a Rangers/Devils game really isn't a fair comparison... the Sens aren't exactly a rival of the Rangers. There were very few sens fans in the house on 10/3.

As far as the class thing goes, the whole argument is silly really. Rangers and Devils fans are drawn from the same population basically. It's silly to think that one group is more or less classy than the other based solely on the NHL team they root for.

It's pretty simple really. There are plenty of jerks at the Rock. Same goes for MSG. The Rangers vs Devils games seems to bring them out. Anyone could site isolated instances of why Devils fans or Rangers fans are jerks... but if you ask me, there are plenty of fools out there these days. Some of them wear Devils jerseys... some Rangers jerseys...

I think the classy thing to do is take the high road and not really draw comparisions between two fanbases... especially when our fanbase is a part of the equation.

I had the privledge of attending the Rangers-Devils game 5 matchup 2 years ago at the Rock. The atmosphere was unbelievable and I think that was in large part due to the near even split of the fanbases watching a potential (and eventual) clincher. I have to admit that the diehards in the upper level are intimidating, but moreso towards our Rangers than our fans. I don't have a bad thing to say about any of the Devil fans despite the fact that we eliminated them, took over their building and chanted "Marty Sucks" all the way to the train. They took their lumps and I didn't see one altercation.

The only complaint I have is that of the hostility of the ticket checkers and Prudential personnel towards Ranger fans. They made only the Ranger fans discard their pom-poms, towels and banners. They either refused to give or confiscated the free Devils towels given to the first x amount of fans, not Devil fans, just fans. But that was it, nothing about the fans and it wasn't really an issue for me personally.

My brother and I sat across from 2 Devil fans on the train ride home and they were nothing but cordial and respectful. Just a straight-up hockey conversation until our respective stops. It seems like both fanbases get smeared by the acts of a few, but by and large most fans of any team and sport are cool.

I think the classy thing to do is take the high road and not really draw comparisions between two fanbases... especially when our fanbase is a part of the equation.

I had the privledge of attending the Rangers-Devils game 5 matchup 2 years ago at the Rock. The atmosphere was unbelievable and I think that was in large part due to the near even split of the fanbases watching a potential (and eventual) clincher. I have to admit that the diehards in the upper level are intimidating, but moreso towards our Rangers than our fans. I don't have a bad thing to say about any of the Devil fans despite the fact that we eliminated them, took over their building and chanted "Marty Sucks" all the way to the train. They took their lumps and I didn't see one altercation.

The only complaint I have is that of the hostility of the ticket checkers and Prudential personnel towards Ranger fans. They made only the Ranger fans discard their pom-poms, towels and banners. They either refused to give or confiscated the free Devils towels given to the first x amount of fans, not Devil fans, just fans. But that was it, nothing about the fans and it wasn't really an issue for me personally.

My brother and I sat across from 2 Devil fans on the train ride home and they were nothing but cordial and respectful. Just a straight-up hockey conversation until our respective stops. It seems like both fanbases get smeared by the acts of a few, but by and large most fans of any team and sport are cool.

The only reason that was done is because in the previous games at the Rock, they handed out towels to Rangers fans and some of them stuffed them in the toilets at the Rock and there was flooding.

Like someone else said, the word class is thrown around too much on here. There's not one perfect fan base out there and sometimes the ones without class outweigh the ones with class.

Not for nothing, but I've had incidents at MSG as well being an opposing fan and have had people throw stuff at me at MSG, so no one is innocent from either fan base.

The only reason that was done is because in the previous games at the Rock, they handed out towels to Rangers fans and some of them stuffed them in the toilets at the Rock and there was flooding.

Like someone else said, the word class is thrown around too much on here. There's not one perfect fan base out there and sometimes the ones without class outweigh the ones with class.

Not for nothing, but I've had incidents at MSG as well being an opposing fan and have had people throw stuff at me at MSG, so no one is innocent from either fan base.

There was still no call for throwing away they periphenalia. Pom-poms? Come on. And I thought stereotyping was wrong in today's society. You wouldn't not hand out towels to black people, right? Asians? You just can't say that some Ranger fans flooded the toilets so no Ranger fans are getting towels.... you have to say that no one gets towels, or at the very least from a legal standpoint, the first x amount of Devils fans get a towel. No one is going to press charges over it but it is technically illegal. I never flushed a rally towel so why am I being punished?

Sports fans in general are not a classy bunch, and slap fights over which is more classy are pretty pointless. There are fans of either (and any) team who would gladly poor a beer over a small childs head or get drunk and destroy property for the hell of it

It's a hockey game! Not a damn ballet recital! I've been to my fair share of games at both buildings. MSG is a more hostile environment, but I fully expected that sitting in the 400s with an Isles jersey on. Not so bad in the 300s, even less in the 200s. The Rock is a nice place to catch a game, and "less hostile" than the Garden, but as far as class goes, I think you all suck! I mean one of your teams is in Jersey and the other half of you like the Rangers. Gross.

There was still no call for throwing away they periphenalia. Pom-poms? Come on. And I thought stereotyping was wrong in today's society. You wouldn't not hand out towels to black people, right? Asians? You just can't say that some Ranger fans flooded the toilets so no Ranger fans are getting towels.... you have to say that no one gets towels, or at the very least from a legal standpoint, the first x amount of Devils fans get a towel. No one is going to press charges over it but it is technically illegal. I never flushed a rally towel so why am I being punished?

Anything can be stuffed down a toilet to clog it. The easiest thing was to just eliminate everything that they brought in. I see nothing wrong with that.

It's all about punishing the masses for the sins of a few. It's their building, they can do what they want.

It's a hockey game! Not a damn ballet recital! I've been to my fair share of games at both buildings. MSG is a more hostile environment, but I fully expected that sitting in the 400s with an Isles jersey on. Not so bad in the 300s, even less in the 200s. The Rock is a nice place to catch a game, and "less hostile" than the Garden, but as far as class goes, I think you all suck! I mean one of your teams is in Jersey and the other half of you like the Rangers. Gross.

Yeah I mean the least classiest thing I've ever seen happen at a hockey game took place at Nassau Coliseum. The seats are pretty vertically inclined in the 300 section and I watched an Islanders fan blatantly cheap shot a Rangers fan from higher ground about 15 times, 10 of which caught him in the temple. This happened as the final horn sounded. The two guys had a disagreement but it was in the 2nd period and nothing was said afterwards.

Obviously this isn't a complete representation of your fan base, it's just an attempt to further illustrate that drunk hockey fans from this area aren't the classiest bunch in the world.

As far as class goes, your going to find a bunch of classy and unclassy fans on both sides....your going to find that everywhere

my biggest beef with devils fans, obviouslly im generalizing here, is that they don't have their own identity as a fan base...it blew my mind when i heard the entire arena chant "Rangers SUCK!" at least 10 times when i was at a devils vs. coyotes game last season (we could bring up the Potvin chant but i could give you a thousand reasons why its a different situation)

additionally...i sat behind some dude whos devil's jersey said "Martys Better" on the back, and his friend's jersey said "rangers suck"...on any given night you can count at least 7 or 8 jerseys with similar nameplates at a devs game regardless of the opponents

its really stupid too because the devils have had more than enough good teams and cups to just simply support their team but they still act as if they feel inferior somehow

the rangers certainly have their fair share of ignorant fans, but they at least will ignorantly cheer for (as well as ignorantly boo) their OWN team and not concern themselves with trying to cut down a team their not even playing.

As far as class goes, your going to find a bunch of classy and unclassy fans on both sides....your going to find that everywhere

my biggest beef with devils fans, obviouslly im generalizing here, is that they don't have their own identity as a fan base...it blew my mind when i heard the entire arena chant "Rangers SUCK!" at least 10 times when i was at a devils vs. coyotes game last season (we could bring up the Potvin chant but i could give you a thousand reasons why its a different situation)

additionally...i sat behind some dude whos devil's jersey said "Martys Better" on the back, and his friend's jersey said "rangers suck"...on any given night you can count at least 7 or 8 jerseys with similar nameplates at a devs game regardless of the opponents

its really stupid too because the devils have had more than enough good teams and cups to just simply support their team but they still act as if they feel inferior somehow

the rangers certainly have their fair share of ignorant fans, but they at least will ignorantly cheer for (as well as ignorantly boo) their OWN team and not concern themselves with trying to cut down a team their not even playing.

Don't worry, there are a lot of us that HATE this chant! It is what it is. We have a young fan base, they like, it gets done, there's nothing we can do it stop it!

I've also seen more then my fair share (including a brand new jersey last night) of "94" jerseys that say "Devils Suck" as well. Again, it goes both ways!

I will say this, the Rangers fans that go to the Rock are a lot different than the Rangers fans that go to MSG. I don't know why that is, but the ones that represent you guys at the Rock are not fun (at least the ones I've encountered) to be around.

I also want to add that their fanbase has ripped off every team......their "hey...........you suck!" goal song is rip-offed from the Pittsburgh Steelers years ago, "Rock the Red" that they introduced last year is taken from (Rutgers or Carolina), "Rangers Suck" they got from "Potvin Sucks,".....the insecurities with that fan base is mind boggling...........did they start doing the stick salute yet? I wouldn't be surprised...

Don't worry, there are a lot of us that HATE this chant! It is what it is. We have a young fan base, they like, it gets done, there's nothing we can do it stop it!

I've also seen more then my fair share (including a brand new jersey last night) of "94" jerseys that say "Devils Suck" as well. Again, it goes both ways!

I will say this, the Rangers fans that go to the Rock are a lot different than the Rangers fans that go to MSG. I don't know why that is, but the ones that represent you guys at the Rock are not fun (at least the ones I've encountered) to be around.

i won't deny that it goes both ways...but you also can't deny that the fan mentality we're talking about is far more common amongst devil's fans than rangers

and as far as the rangers fan's at the rock...sounds like there's a good chance you've encountered some of my friends who drink all day while they wait in line to get those $10 tickets cause they're poor college students and cant afford to see the blueshirts at MSG!